THE OOLOGIST 



27 



I fell to wondering, recently, why 

 the old-time specific name "erythro- 

 gaster," (Barn Swallow), should be 

 changed to "tris," for its final syllable. 

 The explanation was that, Hirundo 

 being feminine, and the adjective of 

 the third declension, and the specific 

 name of the nature, not of substantive 

 but of adjective, "tris" was the only 

 allowable rendering. An ornithologist 

 of equal acumen maintains that the 

 specific names are, not adjectives but 

 nouns, and that, he would seem to say, 

 must end the controversy. But, how 

 about "canadensis," (for a certain 

 Warbler), and "aestuarinus" for the 

 latest developed of the Marsh Wren 

 sub-species, for Interior California) ? 



The writer entirely disclaims any 

 attainment, whatever, in the lore that 

 transforms the amateur into a savant. 

 But he does believe himself, and thous- 

 who think and feel as he does, en- 

 titled to a hearing, as regards many 

 considerations, some of them obscure, 

 a few of them, perhaps, trifling, in 

 their isolation; yet all of them in the 

 aggregate, having a preponderate 

 bearing on scientific classification 

 and nomenclature. An amateur, for 

 example, finds it hard to restrain his 

 impatience when told that the place 

 where a certain equivocal specimen 

 was taken must be made known be- 

 fore the status of the specimen can 

 be determined. (To show how all this 

 works out, in practice, I might be per- 

 mitted to say; that specimens of a 

 certain Thrush, taken by me, in 

 Wyoming, were pronounced to be 

 "swainsoni," while similar birds taken 

 at the same altitude, and showing the 

 very same (distinctive and un-swain- 

 son-like) breeding habits, in North- 

 western Nebraska, not many miles 

 away, were called "almae!". One 

 does not wonder, after all this \ blow- 

 ing of hot and cold with the same 

 mouth, that "almae" should have been 



wiped off the face of the map forever, 

 in face of which arbitrary action 

 stands the fact that the Alma Thrush, 

 in temperament and in nesting habit, 

 is utterly distinct from the Olive- 

 backed Thrush. (And to this agree 

 no less acute men than A. O. Treg- 

 anza and F. M. Dille). 



The above has not been written, 

 either to exploit ones personality or 

 to provoke controversy; but rather in 

 the hope that the deliberately formed 

 opinions and the carefully digested 

 observations of amateurs who are, per- 

 haps, as correct classicists as the 

 Nomenclatures, may be weighed, dis- 

 passionately in the official balance, 

 yet not, in the final issue, be found 

 wanting. 



P. B. Peabody. 



Where Will It End? 



Remember the American Buffalo, 

 Wild Pigeon, Carolina Paraquette, 

 Ivory Billed Woodpecker, and many 

 others. 



The destruction of wild life, by our 

 modern "civilization" is simply appal- 

 ing. At a recent fur auction in St. 

 Louis, Mo., the following pelts were 

 sold, "besides thousands of others," 

 as stated by the daily press: 

 900,000 Muskrat. 

 810,000 Russian Squirrel. 

 750,000 Mole. 

 300,000 Possum. 

 215,000 Skunk. 

 173,000 Marmots. 

 135,000 Nutria. 

 130,000 Raccoon. 

 118,000 Ermine. 

 106,000 Mink. 



96,000 Japanese Mink. 



77,000 Chinese Mink. 



68,000 Australian Ringtail. 



52,000 Kolinsky. 



30,000 Red Pox. 



10,000 Argentine Fox. 

 9,000 Japanese Fox. 



